My Background

Why I Became A Psychotherapist

I discovered psychology through fiction. When I was a teenager, I read a story that woke something up in me and sparked a desire for deeper knowledge. In Flowers for Algernon, a man undergoes an experimental procedure to increase his intelligence. Before he has this procedure, he is given a battery of projective tests. These are tests in which words, images, or situations are presented to a person, and the person’s responses are analyzed for the unconscious elements of personality they reveal.

I didn’t just want to understand the characters. I wanted to give the tests. I also wanted to take the tests myself. I wanted to uncover what lay beneath the surface, and how it all fit together. That impulse—toward structure, pattern, and internal architecture—has never left me.

I don’t view the therapist as a healer. I don’t view people as broken or in need of mending. I believe that people are inherently fragmented. This is not a deviance from the norm—it is part of the human condition. Certain life experiences, especially those that bring us into contact with mortality, strip away illusion and allow us to see that fragmentation directly.

My role is not to fix, but to reflect—to function as a mirror without distortion.

To me, therapy isn’t about solving problems. Life doesn’t always offer resolution. Life is complex and paradoxical. This complexity is what makes life interesting to me. Therapy is about learning how to hold contradiction without collapse, and learning to extract meaning from apparent opposites.

I chose to begin therapy of my own volition at age fourteen. This has given me a fuller understanding of the feedback loop that exists between therapist and client, as I’ve had the experience of being on both sides. I know what it’s like to encounter internal walls. I know how slow and grueling the work can be—but also how powerful. My own experience has sharpened the questions I ask and informed how I think about what it means to be an effective witness, companion, and guide to someone on this path.

Therapy, for me, is not a self-improvement project. It is about developing an orientation to life that promotes continuous self-discovery and increasing inner strength. It is not a means to an end, but a path—one I walk alongside my clients.

Training And Credentials

I began at Western Michigan University as an English major, studying literature and moving between creative writing and rhetorical writing as a concentration. I experienced a growing sense of meaninglessness that peaked after two years and I applied to the College for Creative Studies in Detroit as a fine arts major. I thought I might find it more fulfilling to work with my hands, but soon realized that this was not the case. I transferred to the advertising copywriting department at CCS, thinking perhaps I was more suited to writing after all—but I had no interest in writing to sell products that weren’t my own. I returned to English at Wayne State University, where I studied literature, postmodern theory, mythology, Greco-Roman history, Latin, and creative writing across genres—poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and playwriting.

After graduating with my Bachelor's in English, I attended Wayne State University Law School on a full tuition merit scholarship. I had some interest in understanding complicated systems, and I was craving structure and order. I wanted a rigorous course of study that would test me and transform me, but something was missing in law school. I felt the same sense of meaninglessness that I felt in undergrad. I left law school after one year and entered the Counseling Psychology master’s program at Wayne State. It became clearer to me that the so-called "missing piece" is not found through changing my course of study. I came to understand that I must create my own sense of purpose through discovering and fleshing out my own values. 

During my master’s program, I participated in a range of practicum experiences. I provided play therapy (with children) and family therapy in a community mental health setting. I worked with undergraduate students in a university counseling center. I conducted in-home psychological assessments—including personality and IQ testing—for children, adolescents, and adults. I split my internship between two private practice settings: one focused on clients with sex addiction, and the other a general psychotherapy practice. For my master’s thesis, I wrote a review of research on eating disorders. I graduated with my master’s degree in 2019 and have been working in private practice since then. Good schooling teaches you the rules, and practical experience in the world teaches you when the usual rules do not apply. 

Outside The Office

I enjoy all parts of making food: learning about nutrition, grocery shopping, prepping, and cooking. I love to exercise, and I do it every day. Each week, I split my focus between cardio, strength-building, and stretching/mobility. Specifically, I like weightlifting, indoor cycling, running on a track, yoga, and Pilates.

I like to read nonfiction books on a variety of topics, including psychology, mythology, philosophy and esoteric knowledge, spirituality and religion, and finance. My favorite fiction writers include Yukio Mishima, Bret Easton Ellis, Tao Lin, and Haruki Murakami. My favorite poets are Charles Baudelaire and Sylvia Plath.

I read The Wall Street Journal every weekday and especially look forward to the expanded weekend edition. I like to play video games—especially platformers, ARPGs (Diablo 4 is my current favorite), and racing games. I'm married, and my husband is a very important part of my world.